¿Por qué Baja? - Page 2 - BARF

ScorpioVI · 03-04-2010, 05:33 PM

Early on we had decided to stay on the east side of Baja, the Sea of Cortez side on the advise of friends and fellow ADVers. We had intended to go down south for 1 more night before turning back and retracing our steps back across the border. But we liked Gonzaga Bay so much we decided if we might as well stay an extra night there on our way back. This proved to be fortuitous.

Some hard living out here.

Heading back to Coco's place.

Hostile terrain. Luckily the weather stayed pretty much around mid-70s during the day. I can't imagine riding here in the heat of summer.

Another view of Cocos.

We were shocked to see Radek and Andrew still there. This time with their truck. Apparently Radek's wheel bearing had failed.

Great use of natural fencing material.

Heading back to Alfonsinas.

And to the beach once again.

Oh yes.

This guy was from out east (Connecticut or something). He'd come down to watch the Baja 1000. And ended up burning off part of his bike due to a poorly placed saddlebag...

Sunset on the beach once again.

And once again a good meal.

ScorpioVI · 03-04-2010, 05:43 PM

The next day we set out for San Felipe. And ran into this group from Washington (?) heading into Alfonsinas. That's a hardcore way to carry gas.

Incidentally we didn't have any issues getting gas in Baja. I'd get to maybe half a tank before we'd spot another PEMEX and gas up.

There'd be short sections of concrete every so often. Presumably to help with the vado situation. Vados are like dips in the roadway, presumably where the water runoff goes, but whereas we build bridges over them, the Mexicans just put concrete down there and call it good. They're tricky, there will be a warning sign declaring "Vados 100 Meters Out" but you don't know how big or how deep it is until you're on top of it. Sometimes you can bomb into one at 70mmph and not blink, sometimes that gets adventurous...

Smugmug just conked out on me. Finish this later.

Continuing...

These were the type of embedded rocks you had to watch out for. They just kinda blend into the road and when you're going a little bit too fast they catch you. I'm surprised my rims aren't dented as I caught a couple of these rocks at 40-50mph...

After several miles on the road I noticed my front fairing was vibrating far more than it should've been. Pulled over to find this:

The puny fairing bracket wasn't strong enough to support the aftermarket fairing + HIDs that I have mounted. The left side snapped. Sasquatch repaired it using a bent key ring and some zipties to hold it together... and it's still holding it together to this day... LOL...

Even the inconvenience of a repair wasn't really much of an inconvenience with views and weather like this:

Sweet!

I saw a few of these markers, don't know if they were marking future habitations or what...

ScorpioVI · 03-04-2010, 05:55 PM

W-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-washboards...

Barely felt them on the bikes...

I heard it was a different story on the trucks though...

Remember those vados I was talking about? Well I hit one at 60mph or so. Didn't realize how deep it was until the pavement dropped away from me and I was flying, and all I could see were the scrape/tire marks from all the unfortunate souls before me who did the same thing. I pretty much landed right in the middle of the depression, then went flying back out and caught massive air on the far side too.

The result...

Even my new RICOR rear shock was no match. Found out later at the hotel that I tore a strap off one of my saddlebags too.

While I was inspecting the damage, I heard a familiar ringtone from my back. I had been using my iPhone as an e-book reader. I guess that day I forgot to turn it off before putting it into my Camelbak. But out here in the middle of nowhere, I hadn't had cell signal in days, and all of a sudden I have messages. I check my text messages and found...

Jessica is my niece. My sister, Rosemarie, had been fighting pancreatic cancer for a year and a half. I saw her about a month before I left for my trip, she looked OK although in a lot of pain, but I hadn't expected her to go this quick.

I shared the bad news with Steve, and he proposed we ride through San Felipe and straight back to La Mesa and drive back to the Bay Area. I thought about it for a bit, but decided against it, I didn't wanna be riding tired, at night, in Mexico. We're gonna spend the night in San Felipe, head for the border in the morning and maybe make it back to our homes in time for Thanksgiving dinner.

In the meantime, we had some riding to do, and the views kept my mind off what's going on back home...

Not a bad place to live if you don't have to commute...

ScorpioVI · 03-04-2010, 05:56 PM

Great twisties...

We started to run into some terrible crosswind though. In this picture you can see the sand drifting across the road...

I need to learn how to hold a wheelie...

Lots of sand drifting into the road, made some of the turns a little more exciting than I want them to be...

San Felipe in the distance...

Taking stock of my resources at the hotel, holy shit I'm rich! Oh, wait...

Ran into these guys at the hotel. They were from Texas, but they were coming in from Tijuana/Ensenada, and bitterly complaining about the wind.

One last trip to the malecon, it was deserted on a weekday.

My last meal on Mexican soil, for now, I will be back...

ScorpioVI · 03-04-2010, 05:57 PM

The following day, we make our way out of San Felipe, heading for the border...

The hills here were very eroded by the elements.

Dry lake/marsh.

Looks dry from the surface but I've seen enough pictures of guys getting stuck in cement-like mud up to their waist to know better...

Run to the hills...

and dunes...

Something about the contrasting white sand/black hills intrigued me. I took a dozen pictures like this.

You can see tracks from people that were having fun with their 4WDs.

Following the bus into Tecate.

I didn't take any pictures after this one, since we were hauling butt back to the border. We cut the line of cars at the Tecate border, riding right up to the front, the CBP agent manning the gate asked to see my passport card, then walked behind me to look at my license plate... only to bust out laughing and waved me on. A 10-minute wait while the dogs sniffed the cars/bikes then we were off to La Mesa. We hurriedly loaded the bikes, packed up our gear, got a quick bite at JiTB and off to the Bay Area we went.

I took this shot on my iPhone somewhere near the Grapevine.

I made it back to San Jose, showered and left for my sister's house in Vacaville, getting there just after midnight. She woke up when I got there, squeezed my hand, but she was in so much pain we were keeping her sedated and intentionally kept her sleeping. She hung on for another 3 days before passing away.

The last few months has been pretty much shit, and it wasn't until a couple of days ago when I started looking through these pictures again and thought about sharing them.

ScorpioVI · 03-04-2010, 06:02 PM

The Mexican portion of my trip. I highly recommend getting Bicimapas. Despite the initial issues of getting it installed into my Zumo, it was pretty helpful in Mexico, at least with pinpointing the major roads and small towns.

This is my SPOT coverage for the trip. I was pretty much running SPOT every time we were moving. Tracking was well over 90% and all my "I'm OK" signals went through. Pretty confident that if I needed help out there and had to press 911 they would have found me.

ScorpioVI · 03-04-2010, 06:03 PM

And that's all folks.

NoGall · 03-04-2010, 06:35 PM

Epic! Hurry up, man!

dkcwenge · 03-04-2010, 06:39 PM

wow i love this!!!! what was the temperature like? what kind of gear were you wearing? how far between each stop on avg? the pics are great!!!!!

luckett · 03-04-2010, 06:44 PM

slacker!

Cereal KLR · 03-04-2010, 06:54 PM

Hot dam! Bet the people who bailed will be sorry now. Good ol KLR`s just made for this kind of stuff, reliable as a hammer.

ScorpioVI · 03-04-2010, 09:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NoGall

Epic! Hurry up, man!

SmugMug no worky. I'll finish it tomorrow if it comes back up.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dkcwenge

wow i love this!!!! what was the temperature like? what kind of gear were you wearing? how far between each stop on avg? the pics are great!!!!!

Temperatures stayed in the mid-70s during the day for the whole week. Nights in the 60s. It was nice.

Gear: AFX 37DS helmet. Frank Thomas Aqua jacket. FOX knee/shin armor underneath the BDU pants. Icon Field Armor Boots. Honda textile gloves. Hydrastorm pack with a 2-liter water bladder.

We managed to find gas every 50-60 miles from Mexicali down. We'd stop to take a breather, take some pictures, munch a powerbar whenever we felt like it. We weren't in any kind of time pressure, this was more of a "chill and enjoy" kind of ride. Our only goal was not to bite off more than we can chew, and get back across the border on our own power. Safety first!

Quote:

Originally Posted by luckett

slacker!

Karbon · 03-04-2010, 11:18 PM

MOST EPIC.

mosquito · 03-05-2010, 12:04 AM

Pues... por que no?

mobius9 · 03-05-2010, 02:21 AM

Awesome

03-04-2010, 05:33 PM	#16
ScorpioVI كافر ლ(ಠ益ಠლ AMA #: 1076930 Founding Member Contributor ++++ Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: San Jose, CA Motorcycles: KTM 990 ADV Name: Alan	Early on we had decided to stay on the east side of Baja, the Sea of Cortez side on the advise of friends and fellow ADVers. We had intended to go down south for 1 more night before turning back and retracing our steps back across the border. But we liked Gonzaga Bay so much we decided if we might as well stay an extra night there on our way back. This proved to be fortuitous. Some hard living out here. Heading back to Coco's place. Hostile terrain. Luckily the weather stayed pretty much around mid-70s during the day. I can't imagine riding here in the heat of summer. Another view of Cocos. We were shocked to see Radek and Andrew still there. This time with their truck. Apparently Radek's wheel bearing had failed. Great use of natural fencing material. Heading back to Alfonsinas. And to the beach once again. Oh yes. This guy was from out east (Connecticut or something). He'd come down to watch the Baja 1000. And ended up burning off part of his bike due to a poorly placed saddlebag... Sunset on the beach once again. And once again a good meal. __________________ كافر My Ride Reports: Solo On The Carrizo ¿Por que Baja? A Little Taste of the Alps Martin Dykier a.k.a. "fifthrival", 9/9/75 - 1/25/03 William James Lockwood a.k.a. "B12Bill/RydTher", 8/13/67 - 4/21/08 "No matter how subtle the wizard, a knife between the shoulder blades will seriously cramp his style." - Vlad Taltos (Jhereg) x

03-04-2010, 05:43 PM	#17
ScorpioVI كافر ლ(ಠ益ಠლ AMA #: 1076930 Founding Member Contributor ++++ Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: San Jose, CA Motorcycles: KTM 990 ADV Name: Alan	The next day we set out for San Felipe. And ran into this group from Washington (?) heading into Alfonsinas. That's a hardcore way to carry gas. Incidentally we didn't have any issues getting gas in Baja. I'd get to maybe half a tank before we'd spot another PEMEX and gas up. There'd be short sections of concrete every so often. Presumably to help with the vado situation. Vados are like dips in the roadway, presumably where the water runoff goes, but whereas we build bridges over them, the Mexicans just put concrete down there and call it good. They're tricky, there will be a warning sign declaring "Vados 100 Meters Out" but you don't know how big or how deep it is until you're on top of it. Sometimes you can bomb into one at 70mmph and not blink, sometimes that gets adventurous... Smugmug just conked out on me. Finish this later. Continuing... These were the type of embedded rocks you had to watch out for. They just kinda blend into the road and when you're going a little bit too fast they catch you. I'm surprised my rims aren't dented as I caught a couple of these rocks at 40-50mph... After several miles on the road I noticed my front fairing was vibrating far more than it should've been. Pulled over to find this: The puny fairing bracket wasn't strong enough to support the aftermarket fairing + HIDs that I have mounted. The left side snapped. Sasquatch repaired it using a bent key ring and some zipties to hold it together... and it's still holding it together to this day... LOL... Even the inconvenience of a repair wasn't really much of an inconvenience with views and weather like this: Sweet! I saw a few of these markers, don't know if they were marking future habitations or what... __________________ كافر My Ride Reports: Solo On The Carrizo ¿Por que Baja? A Little Taste of the Alps Martin Dykier a.k.a. "fifthrival", 9/9/75 - 1/25/03 William James Lockwood a.k.a. "B12Bill/RydTher", 8/13/67 - 4/21/08 "No matter how subtle the wizard, a knife between the shoulder blades will seriously cramp his style." - Vlad Taltos (Jhereg) x Last edited by ScorpioVI; 03-05-2010 at 02:52 PM..

03-04-2010, 05:55 PM	#18
ScorpioVI كافر ლ(ಠ益ಠლ AMA #: 1076930 Founding Member Contributor ++++ Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: San Jose, CA Motorcycles: KTM 990 ADV Name: Alan	W-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-washboards... Barely felt them on the bikes... I heard it was a different story on the trucks though... Remember those vados I was talking about? Well I hit one at 60mph or so. Didn't realize how deep it was until the pavement dropped away from me and I was flying, and all I could see were the scrape/tire marks from all the unfortunate souls before me who did the same thing. I pretty much landed right in the middle of the depression, then went flying back out and caught massive air on the far side too. The result... Even my new RICOR rear shock was no match. Found out later at the hotel that I tore a strap off one of my saddlebags too. While I was inspecting the damage, I heard a familiar ringtone from my back. I had been using my iPhone as an e-book reader. I guess that day I forgot to turn it off before putting it into my Camelbak. But out here in the middle of nowhere, I hadn't had cell signal in days, and all of a sudden I have messages. I check my text messages and found... Jessica is my niece. My sister, Rosemarie, had been fighting pancreatic cancer for a year and a half. I saw her about a month before I left for my trip, she looked OK although in a lot of pain, but I hadn't expected her to go this quick. I shared the bad news with Steve, and he proposed we ride through San Felipe and straight back to La Mesa and drive back to the Bay Area. I thought about it for a bit, but decided against it, I didn't wanna be riding tired, at night, in Mexico. We're gonna spend the night in San Felipe, head for the border in the morning and maybe make it back to our homes in time for Thanksgiving dinner. In the meantime, we had some riding to do, and the views kept my mind off what's going on back home... Not a bad place to live if you don't have to commute... __________________ كافر My Ride Reports: Solo On The Carrizo ¿Por que Baja? A Little Taste of the Alps Martin Dykier a.k.a. "fifthrival", 9/9/75 - 1/25/03 William James Lockwood a.k.a. "B12Bill/RydTher", 8/13/67 - 4/21/08 "No matter how subtle the wizard, a knife between the shoulder blades will seriously cramp his style." - Vlad Taltos (Jhereg) x Last edited by ScorpioVI; 03-05-2010 at 03:17 PM..

03-04-2010, 05:56 PM	#19
ScorpioVI كافر ლ(ಠ益ಠლ AMA #: 1076930 Founding Member Contributor ++++ Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: San Jose, CA Motorcycles: KTM 990 ADV Name: Alan	Great twisties... We started to run into some terrible crosswind though. In this picture you can see the sand drifting across the road... I need to learn how to hold a wheelie... Lots of sand drifting into the road, made some of the turns a little more exciting than I want them to be... San Felipe in the distance... Taking stock of my resources at the hotel, holy shit I'm rich! Oh, wait... Ran into these guys at the hotel. They were from Texas, but they were coming in from Tijuana/Ensenada, and bitterly complaining about the wind. One last trip to the malecon, it was deserted on a weekday. My last meal on Mexican soil, for now, I will be back... __________________ كافر My Ride Reports: Solo On The Carrizo ¿Por que Baja? A Little Taste of the Alps Martin Dykier a.k.a. "fifthrival", 9/9/75 - 1/25/03 William James Lockwood a.k.a. "B12Bill/RydTher", 8/13/67 - 4/21/08 "No matter how subtle the wizard, a knife between the shoulder blades will seriously cramp his style." - Vlad Taltos (Jhereg) x Last edited by ScorpioVI; 03-05-2010 at 03:31 PM..

03-04-2010, 05:57 PM	#20
ScorpioVI كافر ლ(ಠ益ಠლ AMA #: 1076930 Founding Member Contributor ++++ Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: San Jose, CA Motorcycles: KTM 990 ADV Name: Alan	The following day, we make our way out of San Felipe, heading for the border... The hills here were very eroded by the elements. Dry lake/marsh. Looks dry from the surface but I've seen enough pictures of guys getting stuck in cement-like mud up to their waist to know better... Run to the hills... and dunes... Something about the contrasting white sand/black hills intrigued me. I took a dozen pictures like this. You can see tracks from people that were having fun with their 4WDs. Following the bus into Tecate. I didn't take any pictures after this one, since we were hauling butt back to the border. We cut the line of cars at the Tecate border, riding right up to the front, the CBP agent manning the gate asked to see my passport card, then walked behind me to look at my license plate... only to bust out laughing and waved me on. A 10-minute wait while the dogs sniffed the cars/bikes then we were off to La Mesa. We hurriedly loaded the bikes, packed up our gear, got a quick bite at JiTB and off to the Bay Area we went. I took this shot on my iPhone somewhere near the Grapevine. I made it back to San Jose, showered and left for my sister's house in Vacaville, getting there just after midnight. She woke up when I got there, squeezed my hand, but she was in so much pain we were keeping her sedated and intentionally kept her sleeping. She hung on for another 3 days before passing away. The last few months has been pretty much shit, and it wasn't until a couple of days ago when I started looking through these pictures again and thought about sharing them. __________________ كافر My Ride Reports: Solo On The Carrizo ¿Por que Baja? A Little Taste of the Alps Martin Dykier a.k.a. "fifthrival", 9/9/75 - 1/25/03 William James Lockwood a.k.a. "B12Bill/RydTher", 8/13/67 - 4/21/08 "No matter how subtle the wizard, a knife between the shoulder blades will seriously cramp his style." - Vlad Taltos (Jhereg) x Last edited by ScorpioVI; 03-05-2010 at 03:49 PM..

03-04-2010, 06:02 PM	#21
ScorpioVI كافر ლ(ಠ益ಠლ AMA #: 1076930 Founding Member Contributor ++++ Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: San Jose, CA Motorcycles: KTM 990 ADV Name: Alan	The Mexican portion of my trip. I highly recommend getting Bicimapas. Despite the initial issues of getting it installed into my Zumo, it was pretty helpful in Mexico, at least with pinpointing the major roads and small towns. This is my SPOT coverage for the trip. I was pretty much running SPOT every time we were moving. Tracking was well over 90% and all my "I'm OK" signals went through. Pretty confident that if I needed help out there and had to press 911 they would have found me. __________________ كافر My Ride Reports: Solo On The Carrizo ¿Por que Baja? A Little Taste of the Alps Martin Dykier a.k.a. "fifthrival", 9/9/75 - 1/25/03 William James Lockwood a.k.a. "B12Bill/RydTher", 8/13/67 - 4/21/08 "No matter how subtle the wizard, a knife between the shoulder blades will seriously cramp his style." - Vlad Taltos (Jhereg) x Last edited by ScorpioVI; 03-05-2010 at 03:54 PM..

03-04-2010, 06:03 PM	#22
ScorpioVI كافر ლ(ಠ益ಠლ AMA #: 1076930 Founding Member Contributor ++++ Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: San Jose, CA Motorcycles: KTM 990 ADV Name: Alan	And that's all folks. __________________ كافر My Ride Reports: Solo On The Carrizo ¿Por que Baja? A Little Taste of the Alps Martin Dykier a.k.a. "fifthrival", 9/9/75 - 1/25/03 William James Lockwood a.k.a. "B12Bill/RydTher", 8/13/67 - 4/21/08 "No matter how subtle the wizard, a knife between the shoulder blades will seriously cramp his style." - Vlad Taltos (Jhereg) x Last edited by ScorpioVI; 03-05-2010 at 03:56 PM..

03-04-2010, 06:35 PM	#23
NoGall .. AMA #: 690440 BARF Admin Founding Member BARFies '06, '08, '10, '14 Contributor ++++BB Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: East Bay Motorcycles: FJR1300 Name: Tom	Epic! Hurry up, man! __________________ BARF TOS \| Be a BARF Contributor \| Join the AMA \| Berkeley Honda Yamaha \| Berkeley Performance \| CA Sport Touring \| Craig Hightower

03-04-2010, 06:39 PM	#24
dkcwenge Mission Peak Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Fremont, CA Motorcycles: . Name: Danny	wow i love this!!!! what was the temperature like? what kind of gear were you wearing? how far between each stop on avg? the pics are great!!!!! __________________ W.E.I.S. 凸(0_o)凸 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

03-04-2010, 06:54 PM	#26
Cereal KLR Veteran AMA #: 571917 Contributor + 1% Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: 94444 Motorcycles: moped Name:	Hot dam! Bet the people who bailed will be sorry now. Good ol KLR`s just made for this kind of stuff, reliable as a hammer.

03-04-2010, 11:18 PM	#28
Karbon Hyper hoñorary Contributor ++++ Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Santa Cruizin' Motorcycles: superchicken, BRP SM, ninja 650R Name:	MOST EPIC. __________________ You are the crumple zone. And life is not a dress rehearsal. Motorcycles & Misfits Podcast Re-Cycle Motocycle Co-Op garage: Santa Cruz

03-05-2010, 02:21 AM	#30
mobius9 Sandy Eggo Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: San Diego Motorcycles: 1993 F2, 02 F4i Name: Bobby	Awesome

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